Life was designed to be lived in community.

“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You
have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 20 "I do not pray for
these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that
they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also
may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the
glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are
one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and
that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have
loved Me.

Intro: Jesus took the time to pray for His people.

The night before
the Lord Jesus was to be crucified was a night filled with much activity. He
spent the evening with His disciples in the upper room, observing the Passover,
teaching them about the Holy Spirit, and generally encouraging them to carry on
His work in the world. After they had finished their meal, Jesus led them
outside the city to a garden called Gethsemane. There, He took time to call on
His Father. Luke tells us that He prayed with such intensity that He sweat
became like great drops of blood. You see, in that garden, Jesus was under
satanic attack! Jesus was battling evil on a grand scale for you and me as He
prayed that night.

John gives us a little insight into this prayer which Jesus
prayed. Jesus took the time to pray for His people. He didn't just pray for the
11 men there with Him in the garden that night, He prayed for everyone who
would ever believe on Him as well. In fact, if you are saved, Jesus prayed for
you! HE PRAYED THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE!

Application: Christ's desire for His people is
that they be “one”.

Illustration: The spread of a food chain. The objective,
emulate the first one.

Jesus is headed to the cross where He will die. 3 days
later, He will rise from the dead and then 40 days after that, He will ascend
to Heaven. He is leaving His disciples in the world to carry on His work to
spread the good news. These verses teach us the will of the Lord for His people
as they journey through this world. These verses focus on unity and all being
one. “Diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds ⌊us⌋.
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at
your calling.” Ephesians 4:3-4 (HCSB)

It is the central theme of Jesus' prayer.
Believers must be one. The standard for unity is the oneness between Jesus and
His Father. Believers are to be one just as the Father and Jesus are one. The
very same kind of unity they have is to be the unity existing between us. A
divided witness confuses the issue and cannot stand, just as a divided house
and kingdom cannot stand.

“Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or
house divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25

I
in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

The Bible reveals three stages of perfection.

1. Saving Perfection: Christ's
death has guaranteed forever the perfection and redemption of those set apart
for God. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being
sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14

Jesus gave one offering: Himself, saving perfection
teaches us we too are to give self! “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless!”
Jesus requested that believers be perfected in unity, perfected as one body.
This stresses beyond question the absolute necessity that believers live in
unity. The world has not been reached for Christ—millions have been
lost—because believers have not been unified enough to penetrate the world with
the gospel. This is the terrible indictment against believers. The problem is
certainly not God. He is willing and He is loving and powerful enough to use
believers to reach the whole world. The problem is unquestionably believers,
and as Jesus made pointedly clear in this verse, the problem is our love for
one another. The concern of Jesus is that we be perfected in one. Sometimes it
might mean that churches of common beliefs work together for the common good to
make an impact in the community God allows you to serve. He saved us not to be
a bumper sticker on the back of an automobile, not to be the center of
conversation in a parking lot, He saved us that we might be a good work in the
hearts and life’s of people in our family and community.

This kind of
perfection requires maturing.

2. Maturing Perfection: The idea of perfection is
perfection of purpose. It means fit, mature, fully grown at a particular stage
of growth. For example, a fully grown child is a perfect child; he has reached
the height of childhood, achieved the purpose of childhood. The word "perfect"
does not mean perfection of character that is, being without sin. It is fitness,
maturity for task and purpose. It is full development, maturity of godliness. God
reveals anything that is contrary to His purpose, and the believer is expected
to clean it up: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to
those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are
mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal
even this to you.” Philippians 3:13-15

As a member of the church the believer
is experiencing "the perfecting of the saints" “For the equipping of
the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness
of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all
things into Him who is the head--Christ--16 from whom the whole body, joined
and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective
working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the
edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:12-16

Maturing perfection isn’t easy,
if it was everyone would be (Mature). The devil wants the church: “tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” He doesn’t want us to
grow so he splits us, and splits us again and again, to a point where when we
were strong we had numbers we had unity we continued to grow. When he splits he
weakens us, and weakens us some more…

3. Resurrected Perfection: This can also
be a redemptive perfection.

The believer's purpose and aim is to "attain
unto the resurrection of the dead.... [to be] perfect." 11 If, by any
means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead 12 Not that I have
already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold
of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:11-12

The
Lord's point is that the mature believer will do good and show kindness to all
men, both good and bad men. He is mature in heart when he shows love to his
enemies as well as to his friends. The love of God and of Christ are the
believer's example of perfected love. "A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another."

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You
have loved Me.

There is a world of difference between a unity of witness and a
unity of love. The world may come to believe the gospel by a unified witness
for Christ, but the only way the world can ever know the gospel is by a unified
love among believers. What the world needs more than anything else is love, a
great demonstration of love from a multitude of people. Think about the
enormous impact we could make upon the world if we really were unified in love.
The purpose for a perfected unity is that the world may know that God sent
Jesus into the world to save it. In that garden where Jesus prayed He prayed
for unity. Unity of God’s name: “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom
You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” John 17:11

He prayed for Unity
of God’s protective power, unity of witness that the world may believe that God
sent Christ: “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in
You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent
Me.” Finally He prayed for unity of love, that the world may know that God sent
Christ. They will know through a unified love.

Conclusion:

Believers must be
one: be unified, of one spirit and mind in proclaiming the central message of
the gospel. There is only one central message: that God sent Jesus "out
of" heaven into the world. There is only one request of men: to believe
that God did send Jesus into the world. There is only one mission: that man is
one (unified) in proclaiming the message of the glorious gospel.